Winchendon Music Festival
Andrew Arceci, Director
- December 18: William Simms, theorbo
- December 27: Asako Takeuchi, baroque violin
- December 28: Philipp A. Stäudlin, saxophone & Yoko Hagino, piano
- January 7: John Arcaro & Band
All programs: 7pm
Winchendon History & Cultural Center
151 Front Street
Winchendon, MA 01475
To reserve tickets (free, but reservations required), please follow the links above.
December 18
William Simms is an active performer of early music. Equally adept on lute, theorbo and baroque guitar, he appears regularly with Apollo’s Fire, The Washington Bach Consort, Ensemble Vermillian, IndyBaroque, The Thirteen and Three Notch’d Road. He has performed numerous operas, cantatas, and oratorios with such ensembles as The Washington National Opera, The Cleveland Opera, Opera Lafayette, and American Opera Theatre. Venues include The National Cathedral, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Library of Congress, The Corcoran Gallery, The Kennedy Center and The Barns at Wolftrap. He has toured and recorded with The Baltimore Consort as well as with Apollo’s Fire. He performed on the Grammy winning “Songs of Orpheus” with Apollo’s Fire and Karim Sulayman. His recording with Ronn McFarlane, Two Lutes, was the CD pick of the week on WETA in Washington DC in 2012. Mr. Simms received a Bachelor of Music from The College of Wooster and a Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory. He serves on the faculties of Mount St. Mary’s University and Hood College, and is the founder and director of the Hood College Early Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Dorian, Centaur, Naxos and Eclectra labels.
December 27
As a solo, chamber, and orchestral player, baroque violinist Asako Takeuchi has performed with ensembles such as the Wallfisch Band (UK), Collegium Musicum Den Haag (Netherlands), Den Haag Piano Quintet (Netherlands), The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands, Arion Baroque Orchestra (Canada), Handel & Haydn Society (USA), Boston Baroque (USA), and folk ensemble Floyds Row. She has performed at festivals including Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht (Netherlands), Deutsches Mozartfest and Innsbruck Festival (Germany), Festival de Música Antigua de Barcelona (Spain), MUPA International Arts Festival (Thailand), and Abbaye aux Dames (France), and Aston Magna Festival (USA). Discography includes recordings with The Wallfisch Band, Arion Baroque Orchestra, and The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands. She has given workshops at Burapha University (Thailand) and holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Netherlands), University of Southern California, and Berklee College of Music.
December 28
Stäudlin is an award-winning virtuoso saxophonist who has performed hundreds of concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His characteristic tonal qualities, deep sense of phrasing, and superb technical skills make him one of the most unique voices in today’s classical saxophone world. A native of Friedrichshafen, Germany, Stäudlin has appeared as a soloist with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Sound Icon ensemble, White Rabbit Ensemble (former ensemble-in-residence at Harvard University), Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, Callithumpian Consort, Bielefelder Philharmoniker, Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Tufts University Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and the Providence Singers. He has also performed with the Harvard Group for New Music, EQ ensemble, ECCE ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Steamboat Switzerland, Dinosaur Annex, Ensemble White Rabbit, Ludovico Ensemble, IGNM Basel, Alea III, Back Bay Chorale, and many others. A graduate of Musikhochschule Basel, Stäudlin received a Soloist Diploma, having studied with Marcus Weiss and Iwan Roth. He was awarded a full scholarship two years in a row from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to study with Kenneth Radnofsky at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where he received an Artist Diploma as well as the Victor Rosenbaum Medal. Stäudlin currently has 15 CD recordings available on the New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Suspicious Motives, New Focus, Navona, and Newport Classics, Enja, and Ars Musici labels. He is a member of the Sound Icon, Callithumpian Consort, and EQ ensembles. Stäudlin has premiered more than 100 works.
Yoko Hagino, born and raised in Japan, has appeared as a soloist with the Kyoto City Symphony, the Czech Symphony, Osaka Century Orchestra, U-Mass Boston Chamber Orchestra, Key West Symphony Orchestra, White Rabbit Symphonietta, and she has performed various piano recitals ranging from the music of Bach to contemporary repertoire. Yoko is a prize winner of the Steinway Society Piano Competition, the First International Chamber Music Competition, the All-Japan Selective Competition of the International Mozart Competition and Chamber Music Competition of Japan. She received her Bachelor’s and her Master’s degrees with honors from Tokyo National University, where she won its concerto competition. She earned an Artist Diploma from the Longy School of Music, where she studied with Victor Rosenbaum and won the school’s concerto competition. Yoko completed a Performance Diploma at Boston Conservatory, where she was a student of Michael Lewin and received the Churchill Scholarship. As a devoted chamber musician, she is the Co–Director of “Die Musiker Witz” and has given many concerts in various locations in Japan. In addition to teaching at CCM, she has been a staff pianist at the Boston Conservatory and has led workshops at Morgan State University, Longy School of Music and Berklee College of Music.
January 7
A professor at the Berklee College of Music, John Arcaro has performed with Boston Musica Viva, Nick Brignola, Richie Cole, Hal Crook, Alan Dawson, Paquito D’Rivera, Jon Faddis, Fred Lipsius, Bob Mintzer, Bob Moses, Jimmy Mosher, Rebecca Parris, Gray Sargent, Carol Sloane, Ed Thigpen, Bill Watrous, Phil Wilson, and others. He’s recorded with Garrison Fewell, George Garzone, Jamey Haddad, Skip Hadden, John Lockwood, Jimmy Madison, Michael Moore, Jack Pezanelli, Bill Pierce, and Mark White on the Brownstone, BCM, and TBA labels. Arcaro is a member of numerous jazz ensembles and big bands, including the Worcester Jazz Orchestra.
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“An amazing musical and cultural opportunity…” – The Winchendon Courier
“…annual festival where incredible musicians present incredible music.” – The Gardner News
“A festival featuring international artists…” – Worcester Telegram & Gazette
